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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.misc:4872 comp.os.linux.misc:33511 comp.os.os2.advocacy:74588 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!constellation!news.uoknor.edu!news.ualr.edu!major.cei.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.primenet.com!kg.com!keving From: keving@primenet.com (Kevin Goldstein) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld! Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 16:53:29 MST Organization: Primenet Lines: 61 Message-ID: <keving.70.0070BEDF@primenet.com> References: <950116203411@lambada> <MANOWAR.95Jan17145517@ww.engin.umich.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: kg.com X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev B final beta #4] In article <MANOWAR.95Jan17145517@ww.engin.umich.edu> manowar@engin.umich.edu (krisztian flautner) writes: >From: manowar@engin.umich.edu (krisztian flautner) >Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld! >Date: 17 Jan 1995 19:55:16 GMT >I got my copy of InfoWorld today and I think that there is lot more in the >column than Linux bashing. >This is the bit about the underware part : >"Linux - how shall we describe ir ? It is the Volkswagen Unix for the PC. It's >the layman's Unix. It's underware. (...) We classify Linux as an underware >because, technically, we can't call it shareware or freeware, especially >if we're talking about one of the professionally supported, licensed versions >of Linux such as our copy of Slackware Linux from Morse Telecommunications >Inc. So we've arbitrarily ranked it at some nebulous level below commercial >software, at least as far as how it is developed, maintained, updated, and >supported." >Part about comparing Linux users to Amiga users : >"In fact, Linux users have a dogged enthusiasm for their product unmatched >even by thepassion of followers of the, well, the "A" word. (Psst ! It's >a machine once sold by a company with a name that sounds something like >"commode door" -- wink wink, nudege nudge). >This is what he says they looked at Linux in the first place : >"Just between us, our target readership generally doesn't want to risk using >underware in a mission-critical environment, so we wouldn't normally look >at an operating system like Linux. But we are just the sort of rabble to >champion the cause of a piece of really good underware if it's appropriate, >so we're taking a look at Linux in our product comparisons of Internet >gateways." >He then goes on to describe how they screwed up the installation and that they >thought that the network disk was needed to install the network part of Linux >but in fact it is only needed when Linux is installed from the network. Also >the author mentions that there are too many optional pieces at installation, >they were pleasantly surprised by support for the 3C509 network card, they >like the color coded output of ls and they had a bit of trouble trying to >install X support from the CD. Note that almost everything criticised in the >column is a critique of the installation process but even then the author >says that "We admit, the installation is going more smoothly than what we'd >expect from an underware product. Most of the problems aren't anything a >little extra documentation wouldn't fix." >So this is it. The column will continue next week. The column was written >by Nicholas Petreley. Personally, I did not find the column too out of touch, >nor too insulting. Especially if you consider the reviews that InfoWorld >gives about other OS's. >Later, -- Kris Cool the caffeine, guys (and girls). That review is *positive.*